Chelsea-Wolverhampton Preview

Feb 18, 2010 - 7:14 PM MARK HENDRY STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - John Obi Mikel wants to maintain Chelsea's Premier League title bid at Wolverhampton on Saturday after vowing to lift the trophy for stricken teammate Ashley Cole.

England defender Cole faces missing the rest of the season after suffering a broken ankle during Chelsea's 2-1 defeat at Everton earlier this month.

Mikel has backed Russian full-back Yuri Zhirkov to fill the void left by Cole's absence but insists the horrific injury has given his side extra motivation in the race for silverware.

The Nigerian star said: "Ashley is going to big a loss for us because he is a very important player for this team.

"But we have Yury, who can play in that position as well, and this is football, these things happen.

"We feel really bad that something like that happens to him at this time in the season, we don't want it to happen to him at any time of the season, but with such important games coming up it's going to be a big blow.

"We want to do everything possible to win the league and get to the FA Cup and Champions League finals so he can join us and help us celebrate."

Mikel has also warned his teammates they need to improve their away form or risk missing out on a first title in four seasons.

Carlo Ancelotti's side have been magnificent at Stamford Bridge but have lost at Everton, Wigan and Aston Villa.

Mikel added: "Last season we dropped points at home, this season it has been away from home. This is football.

"Now we have to put it right. We have to make sure we start winning away as well. We have away games to come and we have to make sure we win all of them.

"So we are going to come back fresh, give a good performance and hopefully win the game."

Wolverhampton goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann is expecting a Chelsea backlash following their Goodison Park defeat.

Hahnemann has also told his teammates not to expect to bully the Londoners.

United States international Hahnemann said: "Chelsea are going to be sniffing blood after their last two away games.

"That probably doesn't help us \2013 but they're at the top for a reason. Like Arsenal, they always play pretty football but they can also play 'crash and bang.'

"They have got everything just like Manchester United. I think that's why the fight at the top has been between those two teams for a while because they can do everything.

"However you want to play, they'll match you \2013 if you want to battle, they love it.

"I remember they came to Reading and we thought 'we're going to kick them all over the place, let's make sure we don't back out of any tackles.' But they loved it."

Chelsea captain John Terry returns after being given a sabbatical for last weekend's FA Cup fifth round win at home to Cardiff.

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy is under pressure to field his strongest line-up after the club were handed a suspended 25,000 pounds for sending out a weakened team for their defeat Manchester United.